To the Winner
by Nekketsu
Summary: Akihiko has been acting strange lately, but he doesn't understand why. Lucky for him, the leader knows just what it is and how to help him.


A side project I did a while ago that I thought would be a good writing exercise for fighting scenes. I'm not very good with them so if anything's confusing or physically impossible, I'd be glad to hear it (or anything for that matter). I wasn't planning on putting this up but while surfing Pixiv, some people were posting birthday art for him. So I figured, what the heck, here's something for the Akihiko fangirls.

**Persona 3 Portable, its characters, settings etc are copyrighted material by ATLUS.**

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**To the Winner...  
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Although it was Akihiko's idea to spend time with her today, the tight feeling in his chest continually told him that it probably wasn't his best idea. Still, it had been a while since they had a chance to breathe between all that's happened and not being with her would only cause him to become more anxious.

"Senpai," she waved a hand in front of his face, "Whatever it is I did; I'm sorry."

"Huh." The small gesture caused the silver-haired boy to snap out of his thoughts. Had he been glaring at her again? For how long? He wasn't sure why but it was starting to become a habit. "Uh, no you didn't do anything wrong."

The chill winter air blew across the school roof and the awkward silence began to fall over the students. She began decided to take the initiative again, "If there's something bothering you, you can tell me."

He was silent again as he tried to assemble his response. He knew what he was feeling. He just couldn't understand _why_ he felt that way. _Why_ did being around her always make him jittery? He had the upmost confidence in her fighting capability but _why _did watching her fight irritate him now more than ever?

"I don't know how to explain it, when I'm with you," he trailed off looking for how to say the next part, "I always feel tense."

The senior glanced at her, gauging her response. Her stare was fairly blank although her face had reddened a bit since they had gotten here. Most likely from being exposed to the cold, he figured. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.

"I'll be right back," she said and walked stiffly to the stairwell, leaving a confused Akihiko behind. He sighed heavily and dropped down on the bench, ruffling his hands through his hair. What was wrong with him?

It had been almost fifteen minutes since she left, and the anxiousness had risen exponentially since then. Was it something he said? Did his weird habit finally get to her?

Akihiko flipped open his cell phone and went through his short list of contacts. His gray eyes stopped at her name; it always seemed to just pop out at him whenever he saw it. The pugilist felt his brows start to stick together again and willed them to relax with his thumb and forefinger. He made a quick mental note to stop letting himself do that and started typing a text message.

He read it over several times, apologizing for making things awkward and offering to treat her to whatever she wanted next time they hung out. His heart thumped loudly in his ears as his thumb hovered over the send button. He bit his lip as it got louder and louder until he realized it wasn't his heart at all.

He quickly closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket. It wasn't just one person's footsteps pounding on the stairs, it was several. He kept his eyes on the door until eventually it burst open. His heart skipped a beat at the flushed face of his kohai who finally returned. Not wasting a second, she quickly tossed something at him.

"Catch, Senpai!" she yelled while she sprinted to the other side of him. He examined the light blue boxing gloves, reasonably startled.

He was about to ask why she had them but a crowd had filtered through to the roof. Half he immediately recognized from the boxing club and the other half were girls he had seen constantly around campus. The groups stared at the couple in surprise and whispered amongst themselves.

"So Sanada-senpai really did ask for 'em…"

"What's going on?"

"She's hogging him!"

A loud knocking of wood demanded silence and the audience obeyed. The SEES leader was smiling energetically as she spun the scrub brush around, taking in the energy from the crowd but refusing to acknowledge them directly.

"Get ready, Akihiko-senpai," she ordered, "Anything goes, the one who makes contact best two out of three wins. Any objections?"

The whispering started up again and the students began to congregate behind the benches, lining against the fencing, for a better view.

"Whoa, is this chick serious?"

"I still don't know what's going on!"

"Beat her up good, Sanada-senpai!"

Akihiko stared at the gloves then back up at her. She had already taken her usual battle stance, waiting for him to answer. He swallowed the lump in his throat, feeling the adrenaline in his blood spike and fiercely course through his veins. His heart was beating hard in his chest. Could he really do such a thing?

The playful way she kept her stance, that confident trademark smile, and her expectant scarlet eyes all seemed to be begging him to accept her challenge. Before he knew it, he had already slipped them over his already gloved hands, tightening the laces with his teeth.

He brought his fists up and steadied his breath, "Ready."

Akihiko watched her closely, studying her as she inched her way toward him. He knew that in terms of reach he was beat hands down, however if he could get in close enough, she should be defenseless. When she started getting too close, the boxer shifted backwards.

Taking her chances, she lunged forward and swung her makeshift naginata sideways for a high blow on his right side. He quickly deflected it and noted the lack of force in the attack and began his charge. Closing the distance between them, he countered with a quick left jab.

The hit failed to connect and his eyes followed the girl as her legs folded underneath her. Half spinning and twisting her body as she did so, her weapon followed the flow of her swift movement. In that moment, he felt something bump against his left side. She grinned at him from over her shoulder and tapped the side of his ribs once more, eliciting a roar from the crowd.

"Did you see that!"

"Where'd she learn to do that?"

"She's cheating!"

"That's one for me, Senpai," she said cheerfully. The SEES leader lowered her weapon to the ground and pushed herself up, brushing her skirt down as she did so. He continued to stare, his heart had begun to race again, and it was hard for him to keep his composure. Her voice rang out to him from her previous spot, calling for the next round. He nodded sharply and settled into his stance once more, he felt a little more comfortable knowing what to expect.

She smiled at the courtesy but the cockiness in her expression was poorly hidden as she began to circle around him. He pivoted on his back leg, being sure to keep his defense up and limit any openings for her next attack.

His eyes were taking in every detail from her unkempt ponytail and the pins she was so fond of were slipping out of place. The way her skirt floated in the breeze as her legs crossed with each step. He shook his head clear; he needed to focus on what was relevant to the fight and filter out the excess.

He cursed himself for the lapse of judgment as he heard her shoes tap quickly, charging for the opening he foolishly gave her. Her hands slid to the near end of the scrub brush and thrust it forward, maximizing her range. Akihiko sidestepped to the left, and hooked his arm over the polearm and clasped his hands as tightly as he could around it.

A look of shock crossed her face when she tried to retract her weapon, only for the end to get caught. Her hands had slipped further on the end and there was his chance! The pugilist quickly straightened his arm and released the weapon. The uneven weight caused the heavier end of the scrub brush to crash on the ground, stunning her as she feebly tried to regain control. That was all the time Akihiko needed to close the distance and throw a left hook. He pulled back on the force at the last second, nudging her cheek.

Her eyes were still wide, as she tilted her face up to look at him, her flushed skin grazing against the material of his glove. The cheers of the audience were distant to the pair. It was in that moment did he realize how close he had gotten and shuffled away clumsily, a smile tugged at the side of his face.

"Anything goes right?" he asked, hiding his nervousness.

She picked up her weapon, diverting her eyes, and replied cheerfully, "Yup, that's what I said!"

She kept her eyes cast down as she casually strode away from him, giving them distance before the last round. This was it, the tie breaker. Even though the reasons for this bout were all lost on Akihiko, he had to admit that he was enjoying it.

The signal for the final match was made and all the apprehension he felt earlier had all melted into inexplicable anticipation. She was standing her ground this time with a relaxed stance, her weapon held out to the side vertically. However, the focused look in her eyes gave her away and made him keep his distance as well.

Neither of them moved as they studied each other closely, analytically. The crowd started getting restless, whispering amongst themselves at first but gradually working up into goading the pair to finally finish their fight. Although they had long since blocked out all outside interference, they knew that there was only one way to settle this.

Akihiko took the lead this time taking a few careful steps that eventually lead to a full charge as she mirrored his movements. A few seconds later, a faint rattling sound caught his notice and the image of his opponent flailing backwards made him hasten.

By the time he reached her, gravity worked against them, taking them both down. Before she could hit the tiled concrete, he quickly cradled her head in one hand and used his other to keep him from crashing on top of her.

The two stayed like that, catching their breath for a moment while Akihiko scanned the floor around them, searching for what ever it was she tripped on. He could have sworn he saw a glimpse of what looked like a string of beads before he felt a sudden grasp the collar of his shirt. He had barely enough time to react, the moment he looked down at her she pulled him down to her level and roughly pressed her lips to his. A collective gasp filled the air with a couple of teasing whistles.

To say he was stunned would be a severe understatement. His face was burning and his heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst at any second. All the same, the brief contact was relaxing; it was the answer to his strange behavior. After a few seconds, she pulled away.

In spite of the bold move, the SEES leader's face was stained with a light shade of pink, her eyebrows were pinched together. It resembled the same look he was accustomed to giving.

"I win," she stated, her tone carried the seriousness that she only used in very few situations. "So, we're going on a date this Sunday."

"S-sure," Akihiko managed to stammer out. Her scowl disappeared at his answer and she returned to her usual self.

"So...can I get up yet?"

"Oh, right," He quickly moved off of her and helped her to her feet. The crowd had disappeared for the most part, a fuming girl stayed behind. When the couple made their exit, a string of curses could be heard as she stomped over to the benches to retrieve her bracelet.

"Well, I don't know about you," the brunette started after they returned the gloves to the boxing club room. "But I'm pretty hungry, want to stop somewhere on the way back?"

"Sure," Akihiko agreed a little too quickly. "Where ever you want."

"That's right and loser's treat, too," she teased. He chuckled at her lighthearted joking but the comment did bring up some questions.

"So, why did you do all this? The fight, I mean." She giggled at the question and shook her head.

"Remember a while ago you were having problems with some girl who wouldn't leave you alone?"

Akihiko looked up thoughtfully. He did recall the girl, but couldn't see how something that happened several months ago was relevant to now. All they did was go out to eat, he told her about the girl, and she said-

"'Beat me, and I'll date you,'" she reminded him. "So, I took up the challenge. I'm just glad I guessed your feelings right. It'd be embarrassing to be shot down after all that."

"But—what if I won?"

"Hm," she placed a finger on the side of her face, giving the possibility some thought. The fight was clearly more spur of the moment decision then a carefully planned out idea. A sly grin slid to one side of her face as she answered, "Then I'd keep asking for a rematch _until_ I won!"


End file.
